Micromechanics:: Simulating the elastic behavior of onion epidermis tissue

A generic modeling approach is introduced that allows for dynamical simulations of cellular biological tissue. It is derived from the discrete element approach in the sense that the tissue is discretized such that histological aspects like cell geometry and the cellular arrangement within the tissue can be fully incorporated into the model. This makes dynamical simulations of arbitrarily shaped cellular tissues feasible in an elegant and a robust way. The validity of this simulation technique is demonstrated by a case study on the unicellular epidermis layer of onion (Allium cepa). The parameters of a two-dimensional model are determined using published stress-strain data from a tension test on longitudinal strips. The model is then validated quantitatively against the data for transversal strips.